nice walk overlooking Barcelona

Description of the image: View of Montjuic (hill at the very end), Barcelona (Eixample, Sants, Les Corts) and L'Hospitalet from Tibidabo. The building kind of close with a white dome is L'Observatori Fabra.

There is a not too common thing to do if you visit Barcelona and you like hiking: go for a walk on a path in Tibidabo, the 512-meter-high mountain that lies 'behind' Barcelona, at its west. Take the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (L7) to Avinguda Tibidabo (last stop), then switch to the Tramvia Blau (the only remaining tram from the XXth century) and get off at the last stop (actually, the only one). You already have a nice view of Barcelona there, and a fancy restaurant. But if you feel like walking a bit more, you can continue walking C/Manuel Amús some 400meters until you reach La Carretera de les Aigües.

Although not many people know why it got this name (me amongst them), la Carretera de les Aigües (Road of Waters) is well known by the locals. It is not even a road, it is a path, and its beauty resides in the fact that it is nearly 12km long and it never goes up or down: it is always some 250 meters above the city, like a perfect contour line on the Tibidabo mountain. So wherever you are you always have quite a nice view of Barcelona, the sea and its surroundings (like in the pic above).

If you are really sporty you may do the whole thing jogging: once you get to Carretera de les Aigües, take it to the South (direction Vallvidrera) and follow the path until you reach the funicular railway, and come back (around 4 kms each way). Or once you get to the cliff railway, just take any street that goes downhill, which will eventually lead you to either Sarrià or Peu del Funicular (both stations of the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat). Or if you really feel like it, once you've walked the first 300 meters of Carretera de les Aigües and get to the first bifurcation, take it right, and the following right too, and keep going, so you will eventually reach the Tibidabo (you won't get to the summit but to the last kilometer of the road that leads you to the summit). But the view from there is pretty nice already.


It may take you a whole morning or afternoon, but it is definitely a way of getting away from the lines, other tourists, traffic and the stress of the city. There one can only find people jogging and / or walking their dogs, quite a few bikers, some couples and maybe a family or two taking their kids (or granparents) out for some fresh air. Definitely worth if you are staying more than 3 or 4days in Barcelona.

[Now I am thinking that nearly at every other curve of Carretera de les Aigües there is a fountain, or there used to be when I was young. Maybe after all it is named after that. Just in case, though, bring a water bottle, especially if it's a humid day (be it sunny or not).]